Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Michael Heiland serendipitously took this phenomenal time lapse video of the pink space cloud reported over Arizona last week on 2/25/2015. The cloud was formed by the Air Force Research Lab's rocket-launched ionospheric research experiment . The video was taken from Michael's perch on Mount Lemmon northeast of Tucson.

Based on the timing of this video showing the appearance of the cloud pretty much coincident with sunrise, the two science questions remain unanswered.

Did the substance released in the experiment react chemically with the sparse oxygen in the ionosphere causing a glow in the process, as in the first Smoke Puff experiment back in 1956[2]?

Or, was sunlight responsible for ionizing the substance in the same manner as the phosphorous payload released in the Smoke Puff 2 experiment[3]?